Date of Award

1-1-2013

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 69 pages) : illustrations (some color), color map

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Gary Kleppel

Committee Members

Gary Kleppel, Erik Kiviat

Keywords

blanding's turtle, GIS, habitat selection, land cover, Neu et al. method, wetland isolation, Blanding's turtle, Habitat selection

Subject Categories

Geographic Information Sciences | Natural Resources and Conservation

Abstract

The Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) is a New York State-listed threatened species with several disjunct populations located throughout the state. Blanding's turtles require a variety of habitat types including ponds, wetlands, vernal pools, and the surrounding uplands. Preserving these habitat complexes is necessary to ensure the persistence of Blanding's turtle populations, but this is becoming increasingly challenging in some locations due to significant development pressure. Key components of habitat protection are identifying preferred habitat types and gaining a better understanding of the variables that influence habitat selection. Previous landscape-level studies of turtles have found that land cover type, wetland type, and degree of wetland isolation are important factors related to habitat use.

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